Player Discussion Brock Boeser - Brock Around the Clock

[JohnHodgson]

..and then the next thing you know..there's a 'who's up for trading Elias Pettersson' thread..?

It's yet another demonstration of the 'knee jerkism' of a select portion of the fanbase.

The criticism of Boesers play last season was warranted (Boeser would probably be the first to tell you about it), but unfortunately some posters need to take it to a stupid next level...The notion that he's 'cooked', have been wildly exaggerated.

Yup.

This fanbase is so susceptible to recency bias and knee jerk reactions.

This is the same fanbase that cried about the Hronek deak without ever watching him play a game for the Canucks (thanks Drance). Same fanbase that cried about Hughes when he was struggling in his sophomore year, same fanbase that cried about Petey when he was off to a slow start couple years ago.

You have a few posters here that can zoom outwards and look at the bigger picture but they’re rare. I still remember having to vehemently disagree with people claiming that Boeser extension was a “massive mistake”.

 

[JohnHodgson]

if you cut together a package of all his shifts from the last two seasons you'd see a disengaged player who wasn't skating hard enough, wasn't backchecking, and generally had the same body language as pettersson did in his weird 21-22 season.

that was probably entirely because of his dad passing away, but the criticisms of his play were correct.

It’s almost like he was going through some lingering injuries and his dad’s long battle with Parkinsons.

It’s almost like he was never a good fit with Boudreau’s chaotic system because he didn’t have the foot speed to play like that.

Over half this board thought he was absolutely cooked and was useless. Criticisms were roughly correct but you can’t do all that and neglect his excellent year in the north division. You can’t only pick on the negatives but not include the positives when evaluating a player.

 

[God]

It’s almost like he was going through some lingering injuries and his dad’s long battle with Parkinsons.

It’s almost like he was never a good fit with Boudreau’s chaotic system because he didn’t have the foot speed to play like that.

Over half this board thought he was absolutely cooked and was useless. Criticisms were roughly correct but you can’t do all that and neglect his excellent year in the north division. You can’t only pick on the negatives but not include the positives when evaluating a player.

Even after Tocchet was named coach, Boeser was still crap. There were no positives. He would be invisible for an entire game and pick up 2 secondary assists from passing the puck to the point.

Like, two seasons in a row of this is enough to worry people, and rightly so. Management tried to trade him because he was so bad. You also can't look at one positive season in the last four and zone in on that as your evaluation of a player moving forward.

 

[Wisp]

Management tried to trade him because he was so bad.

His extension was one of the first the new Canucks management signed, they were trying to trade him because his camp requested a trade and then rescinded it. Whatever, criticise him, please stick to the facts.

Even at his worse he was always good for at least 20+ goals over 82. Human performance is just another thing that suffered n the Kingdom that Benning built and surprise surprise, all that is beginning to turn around...

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Even after Tocchet was named coach, Boeser was still crap. There were no positives. He would be invisible for an entire game and pick up 2 secondary assists from passing the puck to the point.

Like, two seasons in a row of this is enough to worry people, and rightly so. Management tried to trade him because he was so bad. You also can't look at one positive season in the last four and zone in on that as your evaluation of a player moving forward.

I was under the impression that the player and team decided it would be in the best interests to explore a trade..I don’t think they tried to trade him without his ( or his agent’s) consent.

When Tocchet arrived on the scene ,both sides rescinded the trade idea..and here we are.

 

[Grumbler]

Boeser is being underrated. Guy is a playoff performer. We need players like him for the playoffs.

 

[strattonius]

It’s almost like he was going through some lingering injuries and his dad’s long battle with Parkinsons.

It’s almost like he was never a good fit with Boudreau’s chaotic system because he didn’t have the foot speed to play like that.

Over half this board thought he was absolutely cooked and was useless. Criticisms were roughly correct but you can’t do all that and neglect his excellent year in the north division. You can’t only pick on the negatives but not include the positives when evaluating a player.

Boeser's development had completely stagnated and there was nothing about his game that was standing out anymore. He was completely disinterested, disengaged, and slow - if you didn't observe that player like the majority of this board did then you weren't watching.

Was there context to why Boeser was looking so bad? Absolutely. We all know of his off ice distractions and what seemed to be destroying his confidence and spirit. But would that dark cloud over his head get better over time? Nobody knows/knew. The NHL is an extremely volatile and cutthroat business so if they cut ties with Boeser I was 100% on board.

Skip to this season and we see a completely different player. He has an excellent first step and is winning foot races, he's in on the forecheck quite quickly, he's finding holes to get open looks, his shot has more zip - basically a total 180. Anyone dumping on Boeser's game right now isn't watching.

I am happily eating crow on my no faith stance with Boeser the last year. I didn't say anything crazy I just wanted to move on from him. You don't have to dump and/or disparage so hard on that opinion. It was a pretty level take and I happy he's turning his game around. It certainly looks sustainable - not the shot % but the level of care in his game will continue to bring results.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

I think it was on Drance’s podcast ?

They made a comparison of Brock and Riley Smith, in the sense of, sure you have your core forwards in Eichel, Stone, Marchessault and Karlsson. But you also have the “5th” guy, which can be a key player at any given night.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Boeser's development had completely stagnated and there was nothing about his game that was standing out anymore. He was completely disinterested, disengaged, and slow - if you didn't observe that player like the majority of this board did then you weren't watching.

Was there context to why Boeser was looking so bad? Absolutely. We all know of his off ice distractions and what seemed to be destroying his confidence and spirit. But would that dark cloud over his head get better over time? Nobody knows/knew. The NHL is an extremely volatile and cutthroat business so if they cut ties with Boeser I was 100% on board.

Skip to this season and we see a completely different player. He has an excellent first step and is winning foot races, he's in on the forecheck quite quickly, he's finding holes to get open looks, his shot has more zip - basically a total 180. Anyone dumping on Boeser's game right now isn't watching.

I am happily eating crow on my no faith stance with Boeser the last year. I didn't say anything crazy I just wanted to move on from him. You don't have to dump and/or disparage so hard on that opinion. It was a pretty level take and I happy he's turning his game around. It certainly looks sustainable - not the shot % but the level of care in his game will continue to bring results.

I don’t think his development has completely stagnated, sure he never developed or improved his foot speed and his shot wasn’t as lethal as it used to be after several injuries.

But one weapon he did add to his arsenal was tipping. He is IMO, the best net front tipper on the team and that is the main reason why he’s so important to the PP1

 

[Canucker]

Boeser is being underrated. Guy is a playoff performer. We need players like him for the playoffs.

Is he though? I think there is insufficient data there.

 

[Felidae]

Based on what I've seen this season, I think Boeser has played well.

Is 2nd on the team with shots on net. I like his work around the net and in the slot area too.

I'd say he's been the 3rd or 4th best forward. After Petterson and Miller, and with kuzmenko it's a back and forth atm, and that's probably around where he should be on the Canucks forward tier.

Obviously a 25 shooting percentage isn't sustainable, but he's doing the right things imo.

 

[strattonius]

I don’t think his development has completely stagnated, sure he never developed or improved his foot speed and his shot wasn’t as lethal as it used to be after several injuries.

But one weapon he did add to his arsenal was tipping. He is IMO, the best net front tipper on the team and that is the main reason why he’s so important to the PP1

Sure, I'll give you his tips got better. I dont really think it devalues my point. Boeser seemed to be getting worse, unless he was tipping and deflecting the puck. Haha

 

[Vector]

Is he though? I think there is insufficient data there.

This is the exact same argument last season with Bo Horvat. People here kept calling him a playoff performer with such little data to back any of it up. Then he wasn't that good in the playoffs last season.

 

[Regal]

This is the exact same argument last season with Bo Horvat. People here kept calling him a playoff performer with such little data to back any of it up. Then he wasn't that good in the playoffs last season.

Playoff rep seems largely dependent on whether small sample size variances work for you or against you early in your playoff career. I didn’t think Boeser was particularly good in the bubble anyway. Though it wasn’t a great regular season for him either.

 

[sting101]

Playoff rep seems largely dependent on whether small sample size variances work for you or against you early in your playoff career. I didn’t think Boeser was particularly good in the bubble anyway. Though it wasn’t a great regular season for him either.

Yes he got demoted to 3rd line duty and PP2 when Toffoli came in and was producing better results. If Tofu didn't get hurt it could have been more noteworthy and maybe even a trade happens like had been rumoured although im not sure that was a real thing more than the constant Canadian market speculation that changes like the wind but it made some sense.

To your point also....Horvat got that rep based off a torrid scoring streak against STLouis (and in London) after a good series against Minnesota a team bereft of quality Cs which gave him favourable match ups. In the Vegas series he didn't look very good to me. Bo was built for physical play as he's a tank which can stretch a reputation or 2. It's not like he's Linden or Iginla who went to much larger stretches and extremes to warrant the reputation.

Boeser post playoffs was an improved player though. He took what he learned from puck battles and became more consistent and better 200 ft in the Canadian division. After the 20/21 season though he was poor to awful for a year and a half till he turned a corner last year after Xmas. It's pretty obvious given his play to start this year that he was going through hell mentally and physically. He looks noticeably different

I've come to appreciate the fans that can recognize this and move on vs the one's that choose to carry on without adjusting their positions. It's starting to get embarrassing but whatever it's entertaining i guess. Absurd to me to read that he's been poor in post game write ups after 14 shots at goal where you had to thread a needle to score and his line shutting down yet another quality teams. If people cannot see the chemistry between him and Miller and some of the clever stuff they are doing right now it's probably not worth a debate

 

[Canucker]

This is the exact same argument last season with Bo Horvat. People here kept calling him a playoff performer with such little data to back any of it up. Then he wasn't that good in the playoffs last season.

Yeah, I believe people "think" these guys have the makeup to be good playoff performers but there isn't any real definitive evidence to prove it (yet)...even if they wanted to include "the bubble" I don't know that I would give it much weight myself...I think its going to be a lot different playing in a quiet, empty building over a typical, raucous building during the actual playoffs.

 

[Get North]

I think it was on Drance’s podcast ?

They made a comparison of Brock and Riley Smith, in the sense of, sure you have your core forwards in Eichel, Stone, Marchessault and Karlsson. But you also have the “5th” guy, which can be a key player at any given night.

I would consider Boeser our 3rd best forward right after Pettersson and Miller.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Boeser's development had completely stagnated and there was nothing about his game that was standing out anymore. He was completely disinterested, disengaged, and slow - if you didn't observe that player like the majority of this board did then you weren't watching.

Was there context to why Boeser was looking so bad? Absolutely. We all know of his off ice distractions and what seemed to be destroying his confidence and spirit. But would that dark cloud over his head get better over time? Nobody knows/knew. The NHL is an extremely volatile and cutthroat business so if they cut ties with Boeser I was 100% on board.

Skip to this season and we see a completely different player. He has an excellent first step and is winning foot races, he's in on the forecheck quite quickly, he's finding holes to get open looks, his shot has more zip - basically a total 180. Anyone dumping on Boeser's game right now isn't watching.

I am happily eating crow on my no faith stance with Boeser the last year. I didn't say anything crazy I just wanted to move on from him. You don't have to dump and/or disparage so hard on that opinion. It was a pretty level take and I happy he's turning his game around. It certainly looks sustainable - not the shot % but the level of care in his game will continue to bring results.

 

[Ace of Hades]

Whats not being talked about much is how he is tied for second in the league in goalscoring.

Very happy for him.

 

[aight]

This is the exact same argument last season with Bo Horvat. People here kept calling him a playoff performer with such little data to back any of it up. Then he wasn't that good in the playoffs last season.

Until Bo's late turn as an actually lethal finisher, I thought he always kind of got that two-way playoff performer, good leader reputation just because he was a highly drafted Canadian who was captain of an NHL team and it's kind of just the reputation that comes with even if you aren't actually overly good.

 

[alternate]

Boeser has always been an easy guy for me to root for. Even with his subpar play the past while, he's always come across to me as one of the truly good people in the NHL. So happy to see him refind joy playing this game.

Would love to know what offers were on the table over the summer. Have to think there's at least a couple GMs kicking themselves right now.

All that said, big issue with Brock is durability. Loving the start, now let's see if he can stay healthy.

 

[petterdaddy]

Boeser has always been an easy guy for me to root for. Even with his subpar play the past while, he's always come across to me as one of the truly good people in the NHL. So happy to see him refind joy playing this game.

Would love to know what offers were on the table over the summer. Have to think there's at least a couple GMs kicking themselves right now.

All that said, big issue with Brock is durability. Loving the start, now let's see if he can stay healthy.

Yeah Brock and Kuzy are easily the two most likeable people to cheer for. It’s really nice to actually like most of the players on the team now. I’m currently not even bothered by Myers.

 

[arttk]

Brock is on a 101pt pace lol. Love early season crazy projections.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Even with all the goals, his shot is still nothing like his rookie level.

 

[tantalum]

Brock is on a 101pt pace lol. Love early season crazy projections.

I remember when he was on 328 GOAL pace…

Sigh